Most of the year so far has been taken up by focussing on finishing my 2 large drawings which will be shown at the Llwyn Celyn site next autumn.

I’ve been working on ideas and sketching for my next series of paintings, drawing and prints, too.

On the Studio floor working on the Llwyn Celyn drawing ‘House’, April 2018

Detail of ‘House’ showing image transfer from the 19th Century ledgers and rubbings from old farm machinery

On Thursday 3rd of May I walked again up to Bryn Arw to sketch Llwyn Celyn from above, to be included in my second large drawing, ‘Map’. It was a glorious late spring day; nature vital, fresh and unfurling. I could sometimes hear the notes of a cuckoo somewhere to the west of me, carried on a gust of wind.

Here is a link to a transcription of an interview with the artist Catherine Wynn Paton, published in the Abergavenny Focus in April:

In late September 2017 I did a circular walk to get a different view of Llwyn Celyn from above. I walked eastwards – over the Honddu river, past Strawberry Cottage, through Strawberry Hill Wood. The leaves were beginning to turn golden and the bracken a deep rusty orange. You get a great view from there of the field shapes all the way up to the Gaer hillfort. What looked like bundles of hay were gathered in the Orchard field by the house, in the shadow of the giant conifer. The drawing will form part of my ‘map’ piece, with a description of the walk.

Llwyn Celyn is beginning to look amazing with the new plasterwork and newly crafted windows being fitted. I made a site visit on October 26th. I love the detail of some of the latches which have been used from the original windows, in the form of a fist:

There have been two exciting new discoveries at Llwyn Celyn recently. One is that the oldest part of the building dates back even further than previously thought, probably to the early 1420s (see Landmark Trust blog). The other is the discovery of a medieval archway in the Hall, underneath brickwork and plaster. It was most likely the entrance to a stairway winding up to the first floor, though no evidence of the top of the stairs has been found so far.

It’s Volunteer Week at Llwyn Celyn – students and volunteers of all ages and backgrounds are busy with activities such as re-ponting walls of the outhouses, dry-stone walling and carpentry, using traditional tools and materials. In the searing temperatures, the atmosphere there today was very relaxed and congenial.

The tarpaulin has been removed to reveal the main building in its re-pointed and limewashed splendour

Re-pointing the South Barn

Removing old beams from the Beast House, swallows everywhere

Inside the house, I took a rubbing from the material called wood wall, made from layers of recycled thin slices of wood, which acts as insulation, sound-proofing and allows for air circulation, like the old wattle and daub. Amazing stuff. I like the pattern of it, and the round rivets which pin it in place. One to add to the big drawing no.2.

Pattern from the new plaster walls

A different type of woven wood panel with larger pieces. A rubbing with chalk onto black tissue paper

The colours of traces of old paper and plaster on the bedroom wall upstairs